Is this Andy Murray's time?!

I thought so last year, but his showing in the ATP1000 in Toronto the week before last gives even more hope for this year methinks...

Meanwhile, getting back to basics: Andy will be 4th seed and the only Brit in the mens singles Main Draw by Direct Acceptance; Alex Bogdanovic and Jamie Baker will try to battle through 3 rounds of qualifying to join him there starting tomorrow...

Sadly, James Ward was just outside the cut for the qualies

Mel South was similarly unlucky for the womens qualies but there are 4 Brits aiming to win through to join Elena Baltacha and, using her Protected Ranking status, Anne Keothavong in the Main Draw: GB #2 Katie O'Brien, new GB #4 as of this week Heather Watson, GB #5 Naomi Cavaday and GB #6 Laura Robson.

Laura has the toughest Q1 draw of all the Brits in the qualies: 2nd seed Jelena Dokic (AUS) whilst Naomi and Heather are also both outranked.

Katie O'Brien has been showing glimpses of good form recently and today successfully defended her 40 ranking points from last year's USO qualies by ousting the slightly lower ranked Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine in Q1 6-4 3-6 6-2 in 134 minutes; she has another lower ranked opponent in Q2 before, assuming the seedings work out, 19th seed Katie will take on the 14th seed in Q3. Good start, Katie

Great stuff Laura & Katie!

Very nice win, 6-3 6-2, for GB #3 Jamie Baker in Q1 against 16th qseed Joao Souza (BRA) ranked 135 ; unfortunately he continued his recent trend of excellent first round matches being followed by a loss; albeit no disgrace at all in losing to Marc Gicquel (FRA) who is ranked 166 now but was world #37 as recently as September 2008; Jamei went down 2&4

GB #2 Alex Bogdanovic sadly had to retire from his Q1 at 6-3 2-5

Just Andy Murray in the mens MD then...

As for the women, there'll be Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong in the MD for sure plus, all being well the two Brits still alive in qualifying

Heather Watson went down in 3 sets in her Q1 and Naomi Cavaday went dwon 4&4 in hers

But, 3 wins already from Katie O'Brien and Laura Robson between them

Pride of place goes to Laura Robson who had the seemingly evil luck of the draw to face 2nd qseed Jelena Dokic (AUS) who has been on a great run of form recently so that she's actually world #82 now well within the Direct Acceptance cut-off; she's also, of course, a former world #4. No worries though: 16 year old Laura Robson, former world #1 junior, showed her senior credentials by frankly marmalising her opponent 6-1 6-4 in just 60 minutes sending down 11 aces in the process. Impressive!

Next up for Laura is Vesna Manasieva (RUS) ranked 146. Go, Laura!

With rain having played havoc with the schedules, GB #2 Katie is through to Q3 already having taken 3 sets and 135 mintues to battle past her Q1 opponent but, in Q2, having dispatched Doi of Japan 7-6 6-1 in under 90 minutes ; Katie has been struggling with her service this year but last night rediscovered her best with a 72% first serve percentage and more aces than double faults; here's hoping she can do more of the same in Q3 against Olga Savchuk (UKR) who Katie outranks but against whom Katie has a 0-2 head-to-head. Go, Katie!

Laura Katie

Katie couldn't get past Savchuk yet again, sadly, although she did take the second set

However, another excellent display from young Laura dispatching Manasieva 6-3 6-2 in Q2 ; final qualifying round against 17th qseed Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) ranked 126 for that earned place in the MD. Go, Laura!

FQR heartache again

Laura got within touching distance of the MD when 3-1 40-15 in the final set against Vives but it wasn't to be, for the second year running at Flushing Meadow. Gutting!

So with both Katie and Laura going down in the Final Qualifying Round it's just Andy Murray, Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong flying the MD flag in R1. Unless Katie drops lucky with a Lucky Loser slot which is not impossible...

Bally and Annie, bizarrely, both have very winnable R1s with the prospect of R3 meetings against the top two seeds.

Bally is in the bottom section of the draw with defending champion Kim Clijsters her likely third opponent; small matter of R2 against, probably, 27th seed Petra Kvitova (CZE) if she can get past Petra Martic (CRO) ranked 88 first. In theory Bally should be favourite in R1 so here's hoping!

Annie, meanwhile is in the top section of the draw with top seed Caroline Woznjacki (DEN) her likely R3 if she can get the better of, probably 26th seed Lucie Safarova (CZE) in R2 and first up Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) ranked 76. Here's hoping Annie can bring her top 50 game to bear!

Andy Murray is of course 4th seed and if the seedings work out he'll be playing world #1 Rafa Nadal (who he beat last time they met in Toronto ) in the SFs and world #2 Roger Federer (who he beat last time they met in Toronto ) in the final. First up Lukas Lacko (SVK) ranked 72. Go, Andy!

Way to go, Bally!

GB's #1 chalks up her first ever US Open main draw win emphatically 6-2 6-2 in just 65 minutes without facing a single break point!

100 ranking points in the bank, then, and very likely world top 50 in two weeks' time

R2 opponent is Kvitova as anticipated...

Hurrah for Andy Murray & Elena Baltacha!

It's been slim pickings for the British contingent with Ross Hutchins, Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski going down in the first round of the dubs and Anne Keothavong likewise in the singles although she's still got her first round dubs to go...

Thank goodness, then, for Bally due shortly on court for her singles R2 and Andy Murray who eased past his singles first round opponent today, Lukas Lacko (SVK), in 111 minutes 6-3 6-2 6-2 with next up Dustin Brown (JAM) ranked 113.

Good fight, Bally!

Given the excellent year Bally's had, another seeded victim was not beyond the realms of possibility when GB's #1 took on Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova, world #29, in R2 last night; she gave her a darned good fight before going down 6-7(5) 3-6

Could well be a new CH on Monday week; even top 50 maybe?!

Fingers crossed now for Andy Murray to carry on as efficiently as he started yesterday!

Good work again, Andy!

With Annie K going down in R1 of the dubs it really is just the Andy Murray show now for home fans...but he's done the business well again today taking even less time, 85 minutes, to get past his R2 opponent 7-5 6-3 6-0

Likely to face 25th seed Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) in R3.

Not Andy's time to win a slam, then

Wawrinka it was and Wawrinka took it 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-3

Better luck next year...

So, it's the junior Open to which we now look: great start, too

Laura Robson, seeded 8, won her R1 6-2 6-1 whilst Oliver Golding won his R1 7-6 6-3 and George Morgan superbly downed the 15th seed 6-4 4-6 7-5

Laura's giving the dubs a miss but George Morgan is in, with a French partner, whilst it'll be exciting to see if 4th seeds Olly and Jiri Vesely (CZE) can carry on their gold medal winning form from the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore!

Two title chances still on!

Olly and George both went down in R2 of the singles, unfortunately, but both won their R1 doubles matches in the Match Tie-Breakers. Bizarrely, Olly and Jiri are the only seeds left in the bottom half of the draw; George is also in that half.

Meantime, Laura won her R2 singles and is now one match away from a likely QF against top seed Daria Gavrilova (RUS). Robin Anderson (USA) in R3 first though.

GL you 3

Good news, bad news

Olly won his dubs R2 on the Match Tie-Breaker (again!) ; unfortunately George was squeezed out 8-10 in his

Laura wasn't playing yesterday.

Still two title chances! Go, Laura & Olly

Olly & Jiri cranking it up!

After needing MTBs to get through their first two rounds, Olly and Jiri won their QF, against a Brazilian pair, 1&3 and now face a Russian pairing in the SFs.

Keep going, Lads!

Laura's singles campaign ended 3&2 in R3 and, apparently, she'll be concentrating exclusively on the senior tour from now on. Will be able to play a few more tourneys next year as she'll have passed her 17th birthday in January [fingers crossed for a great career icon!]

Way to go, Olly!

Oliver Golding, aged 16 for just over 2 weeks more and currently world #20 junior, and his partner Jiri Vesely (CZE), who turned 17 in July and is currently at a Career High as world #4 junior, have followed up lifting the Gold Medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore a fortnight ago by reaching the final of the US Open Boys' doubles

Seeded 4, last night they had a real dog-fight semi but came through 7-6(6) 6-7(6) 10-6 against their Russian opponents and tonight now face the 3rd seeds Duilio Beretta (PER) and Roberto Quiroz (ECU) for the crown.

Great work, Lads, and good luck!

So near but so far

It was a brilliant week but Olly and Jiri fell at the final hurdle 1-6 5-7 so having to settle for the dubs runners-up slot. Should bring Olly a new Career High though